


Day By Day

by vicki



Category: NCIS, Stargate Atlantis, Stargate SG-1
Genre: F/F, Gen, Twilight fix
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-04-17
Updated: 2006-04-17
Packaged: 2017-10-15 06:28:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,564
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/157966
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vicki/pseuds/vicki
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Whilst visiting one friend, Abby makes a new one.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Day By Day

**Author's Note:**

  * For [havocthecat](https://archiveofourown.org/users/havocthecat/gifts).



**Day 1**

They weren't allowing her in the room, but Abby wasn't going to leave the hospital until someone told her how Kate was. She was the only one of the team still left in Washington, and she was under orders to report back to the others as soon as she knew anything.

The sights and sounds of a hospital had become increasingly familiar to her over the last couple of weeks, although she quickly noticed the obvious differences between Georgetown and Bethesda.

"Can I help you?"

Abby looked up at the petite woman, dressed in a white lab coat and holding a chart, in front of her.

"I'm waiting for news on my friend," Abby explained. "She was just moved here today."

The doctor nodded. "I see. Caitlin Todd?"

Abby nodded enthusiastically. "Yes," she said. "She was moved from Bethesda this afternoon, and I've been here since then. I'm listed as one of her next-of-kin in her file."

"I'm Doctor Janet Fraiser. I'll be responsible for Ms. Todd's primary care as long as she's under our supervision here," she explained.

"Abby Sciuto. I work with Kate. Or at least, I did before..." Abby shuddered slightly, and looked away. She glanced up when she felt the gentle hand on her shoulder.

"Neuroscience here at Georgetown is one of the best departments in the country," Janet said softly. "I know it doesn't look good at the moment, but this coma is a way for Ms Todd's body to be able to heal itself. Often in these cases, the best medicine is time. Even if she wasn't in a natural coma, chances are high that she would have been placed in a medical induced one."

Abby nodded. "That's what Commander Keller at Bethesda told us," she said. "But I'm scared that she's never going to wake up."

They were all scared of that. Abby could read her co-workers well, but none of them had ever vocalized that as they all threw themselves into capturing Ari.

"I can't promise anything. There's always that chance." Janet flipped open the chart she held, which Abby now saw was Kate's.

"There's already been some improvement over the last couple of days," she said. "Her SOFA scores have been steadily rising that's just an indication of how her status has evolved over time. Her GCS is 6, E2 V1 M3, which sounds more complicated than it is." She smiled slightly and Abby found herself returning the smile. "Basically it means that Ms Todd's eyes are opening and there's flexion to pain, although there's still no verbal responses. Her coma's classified as severe, but I'm sure that we'll see further improvements."

Abby nodded slowly, working it all through in her mind. "Can I see her?" she asked hopefully.

Janet checked her watch, and glanced down the sterile corridor. "Just for a minute," she said, beckoning Abby to follow her. She pushed open the door to 239.

The sight of Kate lying so still and pale in a hospital bed was so horribly familiar by now that Abby didn't react.

"I'll give you a minute alone with her," Janet said softly, patting her on the shoulder. Abby turned to smile her thanks, before moving to sit in the chair by Kate's bed.

  
 **Day 5:**

The past few days hadn't been quite so bad. They'd been hot on the trail of another case and all the analyzing of the evidence and decrypting of hard drives had kept her in her lab most of the time. She'd still managed to visit Kate each day, even if had only been a few minutes; telling her what she had found out and how cranky Gibbs had been until they had arrested the culprit. Having something else on her mind to concentrate on had helped her feel better, and the short conversation she'd had with Tony on the subject had told her that he felt the same.

"Ms Scuito," Janet smiled at her as she entered Kate's room. "How are you today?"

"I'm doing well, thank you, Doctor," Abby managed to smile back, moving to stand by the chair. "How's Kate?"

"Nothing much has changed since yesterday, I'm afraid," Janet replied, her trained eyes carefully noting the shadows under Abby's eyes. "If you don't mind me asking, Ms Scuito, when was the last time you got a good night's sleep?"

"Before I started working at NCIS," Abby grinned. "But we've just had a case break, so I've been doing a lot of work for that. Don't worry about me, Doctor. Stick with worrying about Kate!"

Janet laughed slightly. "It's not just my patients I worry about," she said. "Part of being a doctor is not just looking after those currently in my care, but often those who come and visit them. I've already informed Mr. DiNozzo earlier today that he should try increasing his intake of fruit and vegetables."

"Ooh, you know what you should do. Tell Gibbs that he should cut down on his coffee!" Abby's eyes twinkled mischievously.

Janet grinned, looking down at her own cup. "Recommending to someone that they cut down on coffee is the one thing I can't do," she said. "Not unless I cut down on my own consumption, which really isn't likely."

Abby snickered. "Personally, I never touch the stuff," she said, looking angelic and conveniently neglecting to mention that her Caff-Pow's contained almost double the amount of caffeine as a cup of coffee.

"Try getting through first year residency without it," Janet replied. "We even debated the merits of a caffeine I.V. several times."

"Ooh, that would be interesting," Abby tilted her head in thought, and then grinned.

Janet laughed, and made a couple more notations on the chart. "Fifteen minutes today, and then I'll chase you out myself if necessary."

"Why do you always regulate time like that?" Abby complained slightly. "It's not like I need to go because she needs her rest or anything."

Janet hid a smile. "Well, if you wish to help with washing Ms Todd, you're perfectly welcome to stay," she said.

Abby's eyes widened slightly. "Oh. Yeah, I think I'll leave that to the professionals," she said.

The doctor laughed. "I'll see you in fifteen minutes then, Ms Scuito."

Abby sat down, and glanced up as Janet started to leave the room. "You can call me Abby, if you like. I'd actually prefer it, but it's up to you."

Janet smiled. "In that case, I think you should call me Janet."

  
 **Day 9:**

"Okay, Ducky. Yes, I will. See you later." Abby stood outside the main entrance to the hospital for a moment to turn off her cell phone. Slipping it back into her pocket, she looked up only to just avoid walking into Janet.

"Hi, Janet," Abby smiled at her. "I see you're not working tonight. Hot date or something?"

Janet laughed, smoothing down the skirt of her black dress. "Or something," she said. "My partner and I are celebrating our seven year anniversary tonight, so we're off out to dinner."

"Oh, congratulations!" Abby exclaimed. "I didn't even know you were married."

"I'm not," Janet replied, looking past Abby and then down to check her watch.

"That's cool. I can't ever see myself getting married," Abby said.

Janet snickered slightly. "No, I don't see it for myself either," she replied. "At least, not as long as things stay as they are."

Abby puzzled over Janet's last statement for a moment, but before she could say anything else, Janet's face lit up and she waved. Abby looked up to see a tall brunette hurrying towards them, equally as fancy dressed as Janet, although in a dark brown dress instead of black.

"Hey," the newcomer smiled, leaning down to briefly kiss Janet. "You've not been waiting long, have you?"

"Hey, yourself," Janet said, returning the smile and the kiss. "Not at long at all. Abby kept me company. Abby," she turned to the younger woman, who was standing there with a look of understanding on her face. "This is my partner, Elizabeth Weir. Liz, Abby Scuito. She's a friend of one of my patients."

"Nice to meet you, Abby," Elizabeth smiled, extending her hand. Abby shook it, grinning.

"It's nice to meet you as well," she said. "And now I get why Janet said that she wasn't going to get married unless things changed."

Elizabeth laughed and wrapped her arm around Janet's waist. Janet leant against her, a slight blush on her cheeks. "Drastic changes," Elizabeth said, smiling ruefully. "But give it time, perhaps and who knows."

"Who knows indeed," echoed Janet. "Abby, I hate to be rude and disappear, but we have dinner reservations..."

"No, it's fine! I'm here to see Kate anyway," Abby said quickly. "Have a nice night, and I'll see you tomorrow. Nice meeting you again, Elizabeth."

Elizabeth nodded and smiled and the couple started to head away from the hospital as Abby headed in.

  
 **Day 13:**

Abby subconsciously found herself looking out for Janet as she made her way into the hospital. The welcoming smile and greeting died on her lips when she saw the petite woman leaning against the wall by the nurse's station, her head bowed and looking exhausted.

Abby's blood ran cold.

She watched Janet push herself up off the wall and spot Abby standing frozen in the middle of the corridor.

Janet managed to force a small smile. "Kate's fine," she assured Abby, who sighed in relief. "Half the ER staff's out with the flu, so I've just finished a shift down there. I'd almost forgotten how crazy it can get. But enough of me," she sighed, reaching to grab a chart. "Come on, I'll take you to Kate's room. Things are definitely looking up with her. I don't particularly want to guess at a time, because I hate to be wrong. But if I was a gambling woman, I'd give you good odds for her to be awake by this time next week."

There was an unconscious skip in Abby's step as she followed Janet down the corridor. "I think that's the best news I heard all day. It certainly beats McGee telling me that he'd completed _Battlefield II_ , which actually wasn't exactly something that counted as best news of the day in the first place." She paused for breath and added "It was pretty boring today; for us at least."

Janet gave her a tired smile as she pushed open the door to Kate's room. "What I wouldn't give for a boring day, or even just a day off," she said. "There are vacation plans being thrown about at home, but we've not decided anything yet. Liz suggested England, but I'm thinking of something warmer. But we won't be going anywhere until Kate's woken up."

"We don't seem to get vacations at NCIS. Kate and I had appointments for this great spa a couple of months ago. It took us six months to get the reservations, but then a marine turned up dead and we had to work." Abby looked down at her friend. "She needs to get better in time for our next reservation, because I'm not missing it again even for Gibbs."

"I'm sure she will," Janet said confidently. "I need to take her GCS, so if you wouldn't mind standing to the side for a moment. I'm pretty sure this will show you just how much she's improved."

Janet moved towards Kate's bed and said sharply. "Kate, open your eyes."

Abby gasped as after a moment, Kate's eyes opened wide, and her friend made a slight moaning sound. "Does that mean that she's awake?"

Janet shook her head. "No, not quite, but it is a very good sign," she said. "That's eye response 3, and verbal response 2." Her hands moved towards Kate's face. "Now I'm applying supraorbital pressure." Kate's right arm moved slightly up towards her face, and Janet smiled. "And that's motor response 5, localizing pain, which gives her a grand total of 10 out of 15. We're getting there, Abby. Slowly, but we're getting there."

Abby blinked back tears. "Thank you," she said.

"Kate's the one doing all the work," Janet said. "We're just helping her anyway we can, and keeping her comfortable while she does it. Now, visiting hours tonight end at 7.30, so you've got pretty much half an hour. I'm around if you need me."

Abby nodded, and moved up towards the bed. "If you're free when I've finished here, maybe I could buy you a cup of coffee?" she asked.

Janet smiled. "I'll never turn down an offer of coffee. That would be nice, thank you."

  
 **Day 19:**

Abby was virtually skipping down the corridors. The four men with her followed at a more sedate pace, although she could feel their emotions running high.

Janet was waiting for them just by the nurse's station, and Abby couldn't help but throw her arms around her in a spontaneous hug. Janet laughed.

"Dr. Fraiser," Gibbs nodded at her, and she quickly became all business as she greeted Gibbs, Ducky, Tony and McGee all in turn.

"Ms Todd woke up just over two hours ago," Janet said with a smile. Abby bounced slightly on the spot, even though she had already heard the news and turned cartwheels around her lab to celebrate. "She was slightly disorientated, but that was to be expected and we're confident that she will make a full return to health."

"When can we see her?" Tony was the first to ask.

"She's awake now, so if you wish to go and see her one at a time," she said, her voice slightly raised as both Tony and Abby shot off towards Kate's room. They looked at each other for a moment, each silently pleading his or her case using only their eyes.

"Fine," Abby sighed. "You go."

Tony grinned. "Thanks, Abs," he said, all but bouncing down the corridor.

"You can only stay for a minute," Janet warned him. "And please don't wear her out in that minute."

Abby just hugged Janet again. "Thank you, thank you, thank you," she said. "I don't care if you say that you had nothing to do with it, or that she was cured magically by little green aliens, thank you!"

"You're very welcome," Janet said with a smile. "Although I ask if you could please calm down slightly before you see Kate, because that sort of exuberance is likely to tire her out twice as fast."

"I'm calm. I can do calm. See, this is me calm," Abby nodded, stepping back from Janet and standing perfectly still.

Janet shook her head and grinned. She turned to Ducky. "Dr. Mallard, I presume you'll be wanting a few more details about Kate's recovery?"

"If you don't mind, my dear," Ducky smiled at her.

"Not at all," Janet assured him. "We can step into my office for a couple of minutes after you've all visited Kate."

"That's perfect," Ducky said. Abby hugged him next.

"This is great! Soon, it'll be just like old times again," she exclaimed. Releasing him, she spotted Elizabeth exiting the elevator and turned to Janet, grinning. "You've got a visitor."

Janet looked towards the elevators and smiled. "So I do," she said. "If you'll excuse me for a moment, I just need to tell her that we can finalize our vacation plans now!"


End file.
